00:00The UNC government is set to make good on its campaign promise to operationalize the Coover Children's Hospital after 10 years in abeyance at a budgeted cost of roughly $100 million.
00:12There's work required on medical equipment, replacement of the x-ray anode tube for the 64-slice CT scanner, parts replacement for an MRI machine, replacing incubators and radiant warmers, replacing non-functional anesthesia machines, replacing CT and MRI contrast injector systems.
00:36But the opposition is questioning why there is no money budgeted for hospitals built under the PNM.
01:06Because obviously they intend to discriminate against the areas of the PNM people.
01:15The claim was strongly rejected by government members.
01:19Operationalization of the Coover Medical and Multi-Training Facility and San Fernando General Hospital.
01:26$100 million.
01:27The minister was very clear to explain that the reason that there's no adequation here is because construction hospitals have been finished.
01:36But although the children's hospital was completed in 2010 and handed over, and that government, that PNM government got it, they left it to rot.
01:48Shame on you.
01:49Meantime, the minister of health is giving the assurance that all public health facilities will receive adequate stocks of drugs, despite a $100 million decrease for the purchase of same in budget 2026, compared to fiscal 2025.
02:06In 2024, the actual expenditure was $448 million.
02:10So we're talking about millions, not hundreds of thousands.
02:14And some of that additional expenditure incurred in 2025 would have been for the shortfall.
02:23We're talking about $700 million.
02:26Yeah, I think...
02:27And I want to give the assurance again to the population that this will be sufficient to cover the drugs that is required.
02:35In addition to that, we are looking at different ways of procurements in terms of getting more value for money for the dollars spent on drugs and pharmaceuticals.
02:48This government has also explored an arrangement, an MOU, with the government of India.
02:52So we anticipate that this allocation will be sufficient, and if more is required, there are other avenues that can be explored.
03:00Renasa Cutting, TV6 News.
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